With a recent increase in celebrities drawing the world's attention to international issues such as poverty, debt eradication, and pandemic diseases, panelists explored how celebrities can most effectively use their fame as a means of adding credibility and attracting attention to global issues.

Efforts to end the ongoing violence in Darfur and build on the 2005 peace agreement must consider how environmental problems such as deforestation, drought, and desertification affect the balance between peace and conflict.

There is a strong regional and international market for the minerals and forest products extracted from the Great Lakes countries. The challenge is for this lucrative trade to directly benefit the majority of the people living in the region, rather than the corrupt few who have typically exploited these resources.

Carolyn McAskie will provide an overall assessment of the work of the Peacebuilding Commission thus far—its objectives, its current activities, its longer-term vision, and its principal challenges. Ms. McAskie will also discuss how the new UN peacebuilding architecture is finding its place on the international scene.

This event seeks to identify ways in which youth can serve as important catalysts for positive change and as contributors to sustainable peace through active involvement in the political process, specifically focusing on political party development, governance, citizen participation, and elections.

The Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars and the Inter-American Foundation are pleased to present a half-day conference to share perspectives, experiences, and lessons regarding the best ways to promote gender equity and increase development effectiveness

Realizing the goal of stabilizing the environment requires new frameworks for global actions. This event, which marks the second in a three-meeting series on UN reform, examines the role of the UN and its member states in leading the environmental sustainability movement.